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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23061166">Cobalt</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/pseuds/KrisseyCrystal'>KrisseyCrystal (IceCreAMS)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fluff Bingo [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Drabble, Episode: s06e11 In Dreams, Fluff, Fluff Bingo, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Lapis is mentioned for like 2 seconds, Steven Universe Future, Steven Universe Future Spoilers, but from peridot's perspective, waking up crying, y'kno the good stuff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:21:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>705</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23061166</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/pseuds/KrisseyCrystal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The house tries to rid itself of him. It’s the only way Peridot can explain the floor breaking open under Steven, splitting right down the middle like an ancient booby trap. Then the screen breaks into a busy signal of multi-colored rectangles and it buzzes, distorting Steven’s desperation as he reaches out to the image of her in his dream.</p><p>And Peridot unplugs the television.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peridot &amp; Steven Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fluff Bingo [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655521</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>146</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Writing Squad Fluff Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cobalt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/gifts">MoominQuartz (IceCreAMS)</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Peridot asked her, Lapis had shrugged her shoulders and said, “Meh,” a word and an emotion that Peridot could not, for the life of her, empathize with. If there is one thing Peridot has learned in her life-changing short time on Earth, it’s enthusiasm.</p><p>So Peridot went to Steven and Steven promised that he’d record the first reboot episode, and that’s what he did. To Peridot, this is the proof of ultimate friendship: that Steven is willing to sit alongside her and see where this new version of the Best Show In The Known Universe goes. Her gratitude went and still goes beyond the usual, “Wow, thanks,” and more so into the territory of volunteering herself to bring the soda and popcorn as is customary, she understands, to these sorts of things.</p><p>But the new <em> Camp Pining Hearts--</em>if it can even call itself that--is awful. What the actual fuck is Rodrigo?</p><p>So the idea to remake the show with their own ideas and using Steven’s dreams and ability to somehow manipulate the television to project said new version of the rebooted show is ingenious. </p><p>It sounds like such a good idea at the time.</p>
<hr/><p>There is something frightening in the way Steven doesn’t wake up from his latest dream. On the television screen in front of her, the young man sits upright in his bedroom but when she looks behind herself, Steven glows bright pink and slumbers tight-faced underneath his blankets. So Peridot watches with her legs pulled to her chest as Steven finds her, somehow, impossibly, in his own head, staring at the screen with a discolored visor. </p><p>The dream gets stranger.</p><p>There’s a party? In a floating version of the beach house? Peridot doesn’t know what to make of what she’s seeing, only that her dream-self is intent on attending said party as Steven chases after her.</p><p>The house tries to rid itself of him. It’s the only way Peridot can explain the floor breaking open under Steven, splitting right down the middle like an ancient booby trap. Then the screen breaks into a busy signal of multi-colored rectangles and it buzzes, distorting Steven’s desperation as he reaches out to the image of her in his dream.</p><p>And Peridot unplugs the television.</p>
<hr/><p>She is stupid. </p><p>She is so, so stupid.</p><p>It had sounded like a good idea at the time.</p><p>She had known Steven was hurting. Hadn’t she? Hadn’t someone mentioned it to her? Hadn’t someone, somewhere, said the words, “Hey, I’m worried about Steven”? They had to have, right? Garnet? Amethyst? Pearl?</p><p>Had they not? </p><p>Did no one notice that their round, bright-eyed starchild has been battling something eating away inside of him? </p><p>For how long?</p><p>Peridot’s boots pound across the bedroom floor. She shakes both of Steven’s shoulders, calling his name over and over again and when Steven presses a hand to his face to hide the big, round cobalt tears slipping down his gasping face, he finally wakes for real. </p><p>“I saw everything!” she says.</p><p>And the Peridot of two years ago may not have known much about human customs and friendship, but she knows Steven <em> now. </em>She knows everything they’ve gone through; she knows the kid that held her in the drill at the center of the Earth and said, “I love you,” and the instant she can, the instant he’s sitting up and curled over--so, so big now; how can it be he’s grown so much and yet at the same time, he’s still so, so small?--she gets her arms around him and holds him tight.</p><p>“It’s okay,” Peridot says as many times as she can in between her words of comfort, as many times as he may need to hear it.</p><p>Steven breathes against her. It is shaky and weak.</p><p>She hopes he knows how much she cares about him.</p><p>When Peridot takes off her glasses and wipes at her eyes, Steven looks at her with such relief and joy that it nearly drowns out the fear and anxiety swimming thick underneath. </p><p>Peridot sets down her glasses. She hugs him again. </p><p>She lets him hug her for as long as he needs to until he believes, for real, that she’s not leaving.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Title is kind of a title drop but also a reference to the song I looped while writing this. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZdH6rvhKd8">Check "Cobalt" out here</a> because honestly it's super emotional and super glitchy and all-around perfect.</p><p>My second "Fluff Bingo!" fulfillment! A little sadder than I thought it would be when my wonderful husband first gave me the prompt of "It sounded like a good idea at the time" with Steven and Peridot, but then "In Dreams" aired and well, I was Inspired.</p><p>I love these guys. </p><p>If you like what you see, feel free to request <a href="https://krisseycrystal.tumblr.com/post/612035350344368128/rated-t-fandom-steven-universe-prompt-it">an unclaimed Fluff Bingo! prompt</a> yourself!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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